Rookie Trying to Move Up in Mello Yello Points in Castrol EDGE dragster

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. – Brittany Force goes back to school this week, not at New York’s Hunter College, where she studied for a

semester on the way to earning her Bachelor’s degree, but at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park where she’ll continue to learn the family business in a modified classroom on wheels.

Granted, the canopied cockpit of the 330 mile-an-hour Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster isn’t your normal learning environment, but then John Force Racing, Inc., isn’t your normal business, either.

Brittany’s dad is 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion and International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee John Force.  Her brother-in-law is 2009 champion Robert Hight.  Her older sister, Ashley Force Hood, was the first woman ever to win an NHRA Funny Car race and her younger sister, Courtney, was last year’s NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year.

Together, they’ve set the bar pretty high, but Brittany, who already has secured her California teaching credential, is unaffected by the predictable comparisons.

“When Ashley came out, she had her own set of goals,” she explained  “Same with Courtney.  Same with me.  For me, it’s not about comparisons to Ashley or Courtney.  It’s about setting my own goals and achieving them myself in my time.

“I thought I was through with school when I got my bachelor’s degree,” admitted the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton, “but I’m still learning every time I go down the track.  I know I need more experience.  Even though I tested all last season, it’s not the same as it is in a race.

“I’m having to learn things like backpedaling (feathering the throttle to regain traction) while I’m racing,” admitted the Southern California native.  “I know I have a great team with Dean Antonelli and Eric Lane as my crew chiefs and Castrol EDGE as my sponsor and I’m just trying not to let them down.”

Brittany’s development has been short-circuited to some extent by a wet weather pattern that has forced cancellation of six qualifying runs over the last four events.  That’s six lost opportunities for improvement.  Nevertheless, the second youngest of Force’s four daughters remains undaunted.

“Hopefully, we’ll get all our qualifying runs this week and continue to improve,” she said.  “That’s my goal – to improve every week.”

Brittany’s progress has been difficult to gauge considering the fact that she is the first ever to drive a JFR Top Fuel dragster.  The sport’s most successful team has won 134 races and 17 championships in the Funny Car class but, until this year, it never had sent a car down the track in any other professional category.

“We’re all learning together,” said Antonelli, who last year was crew chief on the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang in which the elder Force won the inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout and the accompanying $100,000 bonus.  “Most of these guys, myself included, never had worked on a dragster.  It’s on-the-job training, really.”

Utilizing the Ford BOSS 500 nitro motor developed at JFR as a collaborative effort, Brittany became the first driver in 42 years to win with Ford power when she upset Doug Kalitta in the first round of last April’s SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas.

She’ll try to build on that accomplishment this week, hoping to gain ground in the point standings that determine the drivers who will compete this fall for the Mello Yello Championship.

Despite her relative lack of experience, Brittany has had previous success at Raceway Park, where she qualified No. 1 and reached the semifinals in a 2009 Summernationals appearance in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, drag racing’s version of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series.

If the 26-year-old phenom can come anywhere close to duplicating that performance, school might finally be out.